Still smiling: Boise State’s John Bates didn’t let childhood challenge derail NFL dreams
As the principal at South Baker Intermediate School in Baker City, Oregon, Geno Bates regularly finds himself playing the role of counselor for students struggling with any number of issues, but he has a tool at his disposal that probably makes most psychologists jealous.
He can show his students what overcoming adversity looks like, and all he has to do is point to the 50-inch television mounted on the wall in his office.
On its screen is a family photo of Bates, his wife, Laura, and their three children. Prominent in the picture is his youngest son, John — a 6-foot-6 former tight end at Boise State, whose scar above his upper lip is barely noticeable but carries a powerful message.
John Bates was born with a cleft lip, which required five surgeries to correct. His most recent operation was to alleviate a deviated septum during his senior year of high school. And though breathing through his nose has always been a challenge, it hasn’t slowed Bates down.
This weekend, the former Bronco hopes to keep alive a school tradition: At least one player from Boise State has been selected in the NFL Draft every year since 2010.
“It doesn’t matter about the problems you’re born with,” John Bates told the Idaho Statesman. “It’s how you attack the future and what you decide to do with what you have. Anything is possible with hard work and determination.”
Round one of this year’s draft begins at 6 p.m. Thursday. Bates and his wife, Kegan, plan to spend it with his parents at their home in Oregon — along with his older sister, Jessica, who is flying in from Alabama.
His older brother, Andrew, will be in town for rounds two and three on Friday (5 p.m.) and four through seven on Saturday (10 a.m.), and the family plans to gather in Boise on those days.
For Bates, hearing his name called would be the culmination of a dream he first conjured up at 4 years old. For Geno Bates, it would be the ultimate proud-dad moment, especially given what his son overcame to get to this point.
“It’s exciting to watch him live out his childhood dream. You don’t always see that,” Geno Bates said. “I’m excited for him because of all the work and dedication he’s put in, and that just goes to show that you can’t let things set you back when you’re chasing your dreams. You have to keep pushing forward and work hard for what you want.”
ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper has Bates ranked as the No. 7 tight end in this year’s class. Fellow ESPN analyst Todd McCshay has him at No. 9, and both see him coming off the board somewhere between rounds five and seven.
Something unique
At 10 pounds, 8 ounces and almost 22 inches long, Bates was a big baby, which his father said played a role in giving doctors confidence that they could quickly operate on his cleft lip.
Bates first went into surgery at just a month old. Operations to fix a collapsed nostril and a hole in his gum line, as well as several orthodontic procedures, followed over the next several years.
He didn’t have surgery to repair the deviated septum until after a hamstring injury cut his track season short as a senior at Lebanon High in Oregon.
Bates said he found ways to deal with struggling to breathe through his nose, including wearing a breathing strip and making sure to pack nasal spray for road games. These days, he doesn’t even notice it, and he’s thankful for the doctors who made that possible.
He also knows he’s one of the lucky ones when compared to children born with a cleft palate, which requires much more severe corrective surgery, or those in families that can’t afford the procedures.
“I was surrounded by a lot of great people who supported me,” Bates said. “If someone asked about it, I was more than happy to share with them, because it’s something you don’t see every day. I embraced it as something pretty unique.”
Bates had most of his surgeries before he was in elementary school, and his scar was barely visible by the time he got to high school. It also helped that he starred in multiple sports at Nyssa and Lebanon high schools.
He played wide receiver and defensive back, and punted, for the football teams at both schools, and earned all-state honors at the 3A and 5A classifications. He earned two all-conference selections as a basketball player, and he was a three-time qualifier for the Oregon State Track Championships, where he won individual titles in the 110-meter hurdles and javelin.
Working with former pros
Geno Bates is 6-5 and Laura — a former volleyball player at Boise State — is almost 6 feet tall, so it’s not much of a surprise that Bates (6-6, 250) has the size to attract NFL scouts.
McShay said as much while Bates was in Alabama in January for the Senior Bowl.
“He’s a big target,” McShay said. “He’s not a speed guy, but he’s got a great catch radius and he’s a guy that you would love to target in the red zone.”
That size didn’t equate to eye-popping receiving stats during Bates’ college career. In five seasons at Boise State, including a redshirt year in 2016, he caught just 47 passes and had two touchdown receptions.
As a result, he spent the past four months working to prove he brings more to the table than the stats suggest.
“Not many tight ends can say they’re really good blockers and a difference maker in the pass game, too,” Bates said after his pro day in March. “I also played a lot of special teams at Boise State, so teams are going to get someone who can play a lot of positions and play whatever role that team needs.”
After he declared for the draft in December, Bates spent several months in California picking the brains of NFL veterans. He worked with New Orleans Saints tight end Adam Trautman, who was a rookie in 2020 and gave Bates a glimpse of what he can expect.
In an effort to improve his route running, Bates trained with former NFL wide receiver Ricky Proehl, who spent 17 seasons in the league with six different franchises, and won a Super Bowl with the St. Louis Rams. He retired after the 2006 season.
“Ricky is a great dude, and I learned a lot from him for sure,” Bates said. “I learned a lot of really cool receiving techniques and footwork and how to be a better overall receiver.”
To shore up his blocking technique, Bates worked with former San Francisco 49ers left tackle Joe Staley, a likely future Hall of Famer.
An NFL job is never safe
Every current and former pro Bates has talked to has said the same thing, he said: The real work begins after a player gets drafted.
“You’re always working toward becoming a better football player, and your job is never safe,” Bates said. “You’re always continuing to work on stuff you can improve on. That way when it comes time for training camp, you’re ready to make a roster.”
Bates’ first scholarship offer in high school was from Oregon State, and he committed to the Beavers his senior year, but he always had a connection to Boise State. When the Broncos came calling, flipping schools was an easy choice.
“The ability to win games year in and year out and to compete for championships and play in the biggest games, not many teams can say they do that year in and year out,” Bates said. “It was kind of a no-brainer when they offered.”
Bates spent most of his childhood in eastern Oregon, barely an hour or so from Boise. The Bates family crowded around the TV whenever a Boise State football game was on and had season tickets for a while, so joining the Broncos was a dream come true.
He’s hoping to achieve another dream this weekend and join a long list of Boise State players who have heard their names announced in the NFL Draft.
Bates has already checked one other item off his bucket list. He proposed to his then-girlfriend, Kegan, last September, and they decided to elope in March and get married on the beach in Orange County, California.
“It was just the two of us, but we had a phenomenal day,” Bates said. “We really cherished the moment.”
This story was originally published April 28, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
